A young woman from Norfolk who was “intelligent, loving and full of life” may have survived if the same level of treatment for eating disorders was fair across the country, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted.

Lydia Stafford was just 19 when she was found dead at the foot of Hunstanton cliffs in 2013. She had moved to Congham, west Norfolk, with her family for a fresh start after a battle with anorexia, anxiety and depression.

Now, her story has been featured in a new documentary on Channel 4, where Jeremy Hunt admits she should have received better treatment.

She had been under the care of children and young people’s mental health specialists at the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.
But because of her age, she was transferred to adult services under Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT).

In the documentary, Mrs Stafford said: “[Lydia] was discharged by the Norfolk Community Eating Disorder Service (run by Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust) after a few sessions of psychotherapy because they said her BMI was normal.

“And then she really was genuinely shocked by that because she had had very good support when we lived in Leicestershire and then we moved to Norfolk and it all completely fell to pieces.”

Mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk are massively underfunded.

By June 9, 2013, Lydia’s mental health was so bad, she tried to take her own life and the NSFT crisis team visited her at home and arranged to return two days later.

But Mrs Stafford said: “She was expecting a visit on the Tuesday but all she got the day before was a phone call asking her how she was and she said she was fine.

“Her mental state was never properly reassessed again, it was just that phone call.”

Two days later, Lydia told her mother she was going to take her dog for a walk. She said: “Taking the dog for a walk was the one thing I let her do on her own […] so I let her take the dog for a walk and that gave her time on her own to think that I wasn’t constantly watching her.

“She shut the dog in the utility room, which I didn’t realise at the time, and that was the day she took her life.”

She said: “How is it okay that […] I found eventually an NHS unit 20 minutes from my house that saved my life, yet Lydia from Norfolk – she had the same illness, at the same time, at the same age as me, yet she did not get the same support I got and she did eventually kill herself.

“Surely it should be a national health service and not a national lottery.”

And Mr Hunt admitted there were problems. He said: “It’s not okay, it’s absolutely not okay, and that’s what we’re committed to changing but it does take time.

For how many years has Jeremy Hunt been the Health Secretary?

Speaking to this newspaper, Lydia’s elder sister Rosie said recording the documentary was “daunting.”

The 25-year-old said: “It was a difficult day. But after everything that happened we feel like all we can do is try to stop similar things happening.”

She said she wanted people to understand that an eating disorder was not just about weight, but about the mental impact – pointing to the fact Lydia had a normal BMI when she died.

“I think Lydia was disillusioned by it all,” she added.

We are very proud to have Rosie and her family as members of our campaign.

Norwich-based national eating disorder charity Beat also featured in the documentary, where chief executive Andrew Radford revealed their findings into money spent on eating disorders by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

He said: “Over 70pc of CCGs are spending some or all of the money supposed to be used for eating disorders on other things.”

He did not name these CCGs and there was no suggestion they were in our region.

However he added: “The money goes to the CCGs but it’s not ring-fenced. So we’ve heard of at least one area where it’s been spent on their IT system.

“It’s eye-wateringly bad, it’s unbelievable that it’s happening.”

Mental health services have not received fair or decent funding in Norfolk and Suffolk.

The politicians responsible for mental health, Jeremy Hunt and Norman Lamb, ignored warnings as the Board of NSFT trashed mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk, aided and abetted by NHS England and local commissioners.

When asked for comment, NSFT directed this newspaper to a statement given last year from Deborah White, director of operations (Norfolk and Waveney).

My daughter is now being expected to travel 100 miles a week for anorexia counselling from kings lynn to Norwich for a thirty minute appointment. both parents work full time and my daughter does not drive..it is going to create anxiety over her full time college course work essentially compounding a problem.

there is no local NHS adult support in kings lynn.

this story is very disturbing and it would seem nothing has been learned or done about the lack of lots of services in kings lynn

Norfolk council rebuked over special needs provision.
Mental health support cut viciously.
Personal budgets slashed.
Addiction services moved from NHS and local charities to corporate 'charity' with questions to answer.
Is @NorfolkCC breaking the law?
theguardian.com/society/2019/…

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